


How Many More Nights

by TheAngiXD



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-01-13 18:19:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21201035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAngiXD/pseuds/TheAngiXD
Summary: When Eren wanted to help a regular customer from the café with this weird situation, he didn't know, that he would find himself in an even weirder situation and he kept wondering how long this would keep going.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if anyone even still cares about this ship, but I certainly do and no one can stop me.

Fake

adjective  
not genuine; imitation or counterfeit

noun  
a thing that is not genuine; a forgery or sham

verb  
forge or counterfeit (something)

•••

Eren had almost finished his shift at the café and was only waiting for the last customer to arrive. He didn't have a problem with staying a little longer for him, since he gave a good tip and it wasn't like he was very eager to get back into his pretty shitty apartment anyway, so he didn't mind the small delay. The man would always come a little after the shop's closing hours on weekdays, presumingly after work considering the completely black suit he always wore, and ordered the same thing every time. He had been doing this for years, even before Eren started working there two years ago. Today was no exception and the old process took place once again. After Eren's greeting, he would answer with "the usual." The usual being a medium cup of black tea to go without milk or sugar, but with a bit of vanilla and something small of their large sortiment of sweets, cakes, biscuits and everything similar to that, on which they had made an agreement, that the brunet would choose something for him, since he didn't know, what actually met the criteria of not being too sweet, yet not being something salty or sour, and didn't want to have the same thing five times a week. After he had received the money and handed him the small paper bag and the steaming hot cup, he cleaned up the last bit of dirt on the counter, set chairs and tables into their right position, hung his apron onto a coat hook in the break room and dressed his coat on the way outside where he eventually locked the door.

As soon as he came home, he put his books onto the table to study for the upcoming law exam the following week. Sometimes the thought of quitting university crossed his mind, but then he remembered, that his father would have killed him, since he had already paid the tuition for the past eight semesters.

The studying session was over within a total of four hours after he had fallen asleep once again, still sitting in his chair, with his head resting on the opened books. It wasn't the first time this had happened, which was why he always set his alarm before he started, to prevent himself from oversleeping.

During the shift of the next day, after his classes in the morning, he was surprised when he saw the "evening customer" walking in somewhen in the afternoon, shortly after the great noon wave when the shop was quite calm again and his coworkers had already finished their shifts, a woman and a man following right behind him. When they had reached the counter, Eren said, with a surprised look on his face "The usual, I suppose?" "Just the tea. And, if you have it, pour some alcohol into it", he said the last part rather quietly and gave Eren more money than normally, presumingly for the little extra, however the money for the sweet was not deducted, so he found it curious nonetheless.

"It's gonna be okay Levi! Give it a chance!", the brunet woman said, while putting her hands onto the raven's shoulders and her head directly next to his, almost shouting it into his ear, the edge of her glasses nearly hitting him on the head. "Fuck you, four eyes", the guy, presumably named Levi, rudely answered, spitting the words out like poison. "Pull yourself together! Or do you want to be the strange, lonely man all your life? And we wouldn't want our little munchkin to be alone on Christmas again, do we?" Eren heard many strange conversations in this shop on a daily basis and this one didn't even make it into the top one hundred, yet it attracted his attention, because up until now, the raven was a complete mystery to him, whereas he knew at least something about the other regular customers. Very soon it had been made clear, that he wasn't a person who liked smalltalk, let alone actual conversations with the barista from the café he went to, different from the others, who simply loved to talk about their day, or any kind of uninteresting events. So there was nothing he could have known. No name, age or job. Except for the fact, that he didn't like things that were too sweet and presumably coffee, he was a complete stranger, despite coming in five days per week. 

After a bit of search, Eren eventually found some rum in one of the cupboards under the counter and could now fulfill his rather unusual request, which he decided not to question. The woman behind him quickly ordered two coffees to go, probably for her and the man, who hasn't said a word since they had entered.

When they were sitting at a table with their drinks, the conversation continued. "Her name is Jessica and she works as a librarian." Levi rolled his eyes and groaned at her words, making it clear, that he wasn't at all pleased with the situation. "Don't worry! You'll like it! We just want what is best for you. Isn't that right, Erwin?" Now she looked at the blond man sitting next to her, who simply nodded in agreement. "She should be here in.... Now! Good luck!" Both of them left the table quickly and stormed out of the door just a few moments before it opened again and a blonde woman, with big round glasses and a dress with small, dark purple flowers on it that reached to her knees, which was odd considering it was already December, entered.

Levi let out an annoyed sigh, whispering "Those fucking pricks", to himself, but it was still audible for Eren, making him giggle just the slightest bit. "You must be Levi Ackerman, right?" Her voice was strident contrary to her rather soft and sweet looking face. "I'm Jessica Garber. It's so nice to meet you." She put her large carpet bag onto one of the chairs opposite to Levi and sat down on the one next to it herself.

Just then Eren walked over to take her order "Do you know what you want, or should I come back in a few minutes?" Normally the customers had to go to the counter, but she didn't seem to show the slightest inclination to do that, so he made an exception. "I'll take a coffee and a piece of chocolate cake." As soon as he left again, she turned to look at Levi and started rambling "You know, my mother doesn't like it when I drink coffee, let alone eat chocolate cake, but she doesn't have to know. My best friend Mary was against this whole online dating thing at first. She said, it could be dangerous and so on. But what does she know, right? She never had a boyfriend her entire life and as a cat she has no idea about how the internet works."

It was very apparent that Levi wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else really, but the more than talkative woman wasn't going to stop her rambling anytime soon. As the raven took his coat and was about to leave, the blonde, he couldn't be bothered to remember the name from, grabbed his arm and forced him to sit back down while saying "You can't leave yet! We've only been talking for ten minutes!" This was the moment in which Levi realized how painfully slow time was passing by for him, for it had felt like a full hour already. "I gotta take a shit", he murmured as he stomped off to the bathroom. 

He took his phone out of his back pocket and called the woman responsible for all of this. "Hange. Next time I see you, you're dead", he groaned before the person in question could say even as much as a hello. "Oh. Is she not your type? That's unfortunate. The next one will definitely be a better fit", Hange whined disappointed. "No. No next one. I told you multiple times that I do not want this." "But we have to find the perfect...", she was quickly cut off by the raven "You know what the perfect fit for me would be? If you would leave me and my life choices alone", he said bluntly. "You know that I won't leave you alone until we find someone for you, munchkin", her endearing voice almost made the raven want to vomit. "I know that you are stubborn, but I will not continue with this little game." And with that he hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket. The raven sighed before exiting the restroom.

When he stepped out into the main area of the small café again, he took a short moment to look at the whole situation again. The woman was still sitting on the table, now eating the chocolate cake she had ordered, and the barista was just coming back to the counter. Levi decided that a little aclohol wouldn't harm him and stopped by the counter. "A cup of whatever alcohol you mixed in the tea", he mumbled. "I'm not even gonna asked", the brunet replied and prepared the order and Levi appreciated this. After receiving the drink, the raven downed it in one go and asked the brunet for a favor "Can you please distract her for a minute?"

Eren, having watched the entire situation unfold from the beginning, simply nodded and went to the table the woman was sitting at. He got her to start ramblig to him and Levi made his grand escape.


	2. Chapter 2

The raven didn't come by in the evening, which annoyed Eren a little bit, considering that he had stayed at his workplace half an hour longer than he would have had to. But, if he was being honest, he could understand it. He figured, that Levi had simply gone home after the whole debacle at the café. The brunet did feel a bit sympathetic towards him. Even though he had learned his name only yesterday, he still felt like he knew him in some way, after seeing him every day. He was a part of Eren's daily routine after all and to say that he wasn't at least a little happy about the fact, that he now knew the name of the regular, would have been a lie. 

The following day Eren was surprised once again. The trio from yesterday came in at approximately the same time in the afternoon and it seemed like this would be the continuation of the previous day's show. However this time the raven looked even more displeased, which Eren had thought was impossible, but the glare in Levi's eyes proved him wrong. The brunet on the other hand kept his usual bright smile on his face, waiting for them to place their orders.

"Your blind date should be here in half an hour and this time we'll make sure you won't just bail immediately!", the woman said defiantly and Levi simply asked "Why are you doing this to me?" "Because we love you, you know?" "If you loved me", he made quotation marks with his fingers while saying the word love "you would leave me the fuck alone." "Levi, Levi, Levi. Just trust us. We know best!" Her grin was so big, that it looked like her mouth was about to rip apart like a rubber band at any moment. "We can't let you live your life all alone, locked up in your little cave you call apartment", she continued. "Look dude. I'm sorry we're doing this, but she's right, you know? We're doing this for you", now the tall, blond man was talking. "So what if I'm not in a shitty relationship? Have you ever considered that I like it that way?" Eren was bewildered as to how the raven could sound and look so cold and emotionless, while still emitting anger. 

Finally Levi was addressing the barista and ordered two coffees and a cup of "you know". Eren understood what he meant and prepared the three drinks. This time it was a lot quicker since he now knew where the rum was located. He didn't completely understand why they kept this in the cupboards, but he figured that it payed off after all.

The raven didn't particularly like the taste of the pure rum and he knew, that it was far from enough to make him feel at least a tiny bit tipsy, but he took what he could get. "If we don't take care of this, who will?", the woman continued talking. "I don't know. Maybe myself?", Levi argued. "Yeah, right. As if you would willingly get to know other people", claimed the blond guy and Levi just rolled his eyes. They walked to the same table they were at the day before and Eren decided to take out his phone, since he didn't really have anything to do at that moment. So he put his forearms on the counter and started playing Candy Crush, while still eavesdropping.

"Levi!", the woman whined "We are putting so much effort into this! Can't you just accept our good deeds?" "Let me get one thing clear. I never asked for any of this bullshit", the raven replied and drank almost half of his drink in one gulp. "People don't always have to ask to receive some help, dummy." "I'm doing well enough without your shitty help." "As if you could find someone on your own", the blond man laughed. In that moment Levi looked between the two heads, spotted the brunet barista at the counter and got an idea. He must have been desperate to even consider this, and he was. "What if I already did?", he stated and regretted it almost immediately. He thought that there was no way this could have ever worked. The worst possible outcome he could think of was, that he wouldn't be able to ever enter this café again and his friends would forever make fun of him for this, but he was determined and took his chances, the very slim possibility of this working giving him inexplicable confidence. 

"Yeah, right", the blond blankly stated "and who would this lucky person be?" "Him", Levi declared, while nodding to the young brunet. At this his head shot up from his phone and he let out a confused "Huh?", feeling the three pairs of eyes on him. Nervousness started to fill his stomach and he was almost completely frozen in place.

Both of Levi's friends held in their laughter and the woman said "No offense, but there is no way this cute, innocent boy would go out with you." Not actually knowing what he was doing, the raven simply said "You want me to prove it to you?", stood up and walked towards the counter, the regret multiplying with every step he took. 

Before Eren knew what was happening, he was already faced with a pair of cold, grey eyes. "Just play along", came from the shorter male. It was almost nothing more than a mere breath and the brunet questioned for a second, whether he had actually heard it or not, but he managed to stammer out a quiet "Uhm, okay?" He wasn't sure what he was expecting, however, he knew, that it was definitely not having the regular's lips pressed onto his. Still frozen in place, his cheeks heated up immediately and his eyes shot wide open. Faintly he could make out a high pitched squeal and quicker than he was able to take in the whole situation, it was already over and he was staring at the raven in disbelief. Suddenly the woman was hugging Levi from behind and it looked like she was squeezing every last bit of air out of him. "Why didn't you tell us?", she squealed, but quickly let go of him to turn her attention towards the extremely flustered and confused barista and started shaking his hand vigorously. "Hello! My name is Hange and this back there is my honeyboo Erwin. We're Levi's best friends!", she explained, a little to quickly for Eren to take in all of the information thrown at him, and pointed towards the blond man, who was still sitting at the table, watching this whole ordeal unfold from a distance. "I'm not sure if I agree", Levi interjected, but she continued, not even acknowledging his comment "What's your name? Since when are you two a thing? How did you meet? Who made the first move? When was your first date? Have you two had se...", she was interrupted yet again by the raven "Okay, I think that's enough. Don't melt his brain away by asking so many fucking questions. Don't you have a blind date to cancel?" "Ah yes of course! But there's so much I need to know!" However, she was already being shoved out of the door by the raven, who also told Erwin to come along, which he did after waving at the still very overwhelmed brunet.


	3. Chapter 3

It took quite some time until Eren came back to reality, the repeated "Excuse me" from a waiting customer being the reason for his sudden awakening. "I'm sorry", he apologized and put his phone away. Unsure whether his cheeks had gone back to their regular color again or not, he took the order and prepared the drink, but not without some small mishaps, caused by his seemingly everlasting confusion. The faint taste of rum was still lingering on his lips and to him it felt like it was burning.

"I need to talk to someone about this", he murmured, to no one in particular, after the customer had left and the café was empty again. Armin was the obvious choice. Mikasa would have most likely taken the next flight to New York to beat Levi up, before she would have even heard the entire story. Additionally he preferred to talk to someone face to face about this rather than over the phone. Jean was completely out of the question and he wasn't that close to his other friends, at least not to the point where he could talk to them about something like this comfortably.

So he called Armin and was quickly reassured that he would be there in less than an hour, even though he didn't have that much time on his hands. While the brunet was waiting for his friend to arrive, he attempted to sort his thoughts, with little to no success. He ended up wiping the tables over and over again and occasionally fulfilled some orders, constantly keeping an eye on the clock that was hanging on the wall behind the counter.

Exactly fifty-seven minutes later, the long awaited man of the hour appeared and greeted the still distressed barista. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost", he said jokingly. "I'd probably prefer that right now to be honest", Eren replied, while Armin pulled one of the barstools to the counter. "Seriously now. What did you want to talk about so badly?" "You know that customer I told you about? The one who always comes in after we're already closed?" "Yes. What about him? Did he stop showing up?" "Not exactly. He came in the afternoon, both yesterday and today." "So? Maybe his schedule changed. What exactly are you currently on about?" 

Eren turned his attention away from his friend for some time to brew fresh cups of coffee for the two of them and to think about how he was supposed to put this into words. As he put the drinks down, he continued by explaining what had happened the day before. "Hm. From what you've told me, he doesn't seem like he would go on blind dates", the blond stated his observation. "Yeah, well, as far as I can tell, he was kinda forced by his friends?" It sounded more like a question than a legitimate statement. "And what exactly does this have to do with you?" "So, basically, I helped him out a little yesterday. I mean that woman was a picture book example of an unbelievably bad date partner. But the problem was today." "What? Was this one even worse?" "No. It's not that." 

Eren paused for a few seconds before he went on. "He kissed me." The sentence was finally forced out of his mouth. Perplexed, Armin stated "I think I need a little bit more context, Eren. Did you two get closer over time?" Contrary to his overall intelligence, Armin had never been very good at deciphering any situation that had to do with social interactions. "No. That's the point! I didn't even know his name until yesterday! And even then I only picked it up from the conversation with his friends." "What did you do when he did that?" "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was just standing there, like the complete idiot that I am and didn't even move an inch", he talked as though he couldn't believe it himself. 

There were another few seconds of silence, which gave the brunet time to collect himself again, until Armin concluded "I wouldn't think too much of it. The way I see it, he just did that to get his friends off his back." "Thanks. I figured out that much on my own. But he still kissed me!" "Just talk to him about it. He'll most likely come back at one point or another." "I don't want to talk about it." The brown haired head flopped onto the counter, accompanied by desperate whining. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but I really have to go now. And you should definitely talk to him." After patting Eren's shoulder for a quick moment, he went on his way. "Bye, Armin", he managed to get out gloomily, before the door was shut. 

Six o'clock was when the nervousness really started to settle in again. He had been contemplating whether he should have just gone home when his shift officially ended, or if he actually wanted to confront Levi about this. His eyes were constantly darting back to the, now intimidating, clock.

Everything about this seemed so wrong to him. After seeing this man on a daily basis for over two years and having no clue as to who this person actually is, he suddenly knew three things about the regular. Those things were his name, that he was single, and the way his lips felt like and he had no idea about what to do with this information.

When the raven still hadn't come at half past six, Eren wasn't sure if he was relieved, annoyed or something completely different and he was about to get ready to leave, when the door opened, making him stop in his tracks. The footsteps coming towards him sounded way too loud to Eren and they left an echo in his mind, until they finally came to a halt on the other side of the counter. Completely unsure how to properly address the issue at hand, he ended up saying nothing, which left them with an uncomfortable silence for what felt like an eternity to Eren, until Levi eventually started talking. "I presume I should clarify something." "No shit", the brunet let out in a whisper, after snapping out of his trance like state. "What happened today was simply a measure I took to stop the stupid bullshit those two asshats were doing. I didn't know how to get out of this otherwise. I want to apologize and would appreciate it, if you could forget about all of this and never mention it again."

Unsure whether he actually meant that apology, Eren agreed. This was the only good outcome of this situation he was able to think of, and he didn't mind shoving this memory to the far back of head, burying it underneath the endless information he had to memorize for his exams.

After the exchange, Levi ordered the usual again and left without another word.


	4. Chapter 4

When Eren eventually came home, he immediately fell onto his bed and wanted nothing but a good night's rest. However he didn't get the break he so desperately needed, because his phone started vibrating. It was Mikasa and as much as he wanted to just toss the device away, he couldn't. He knew that if he didn't respond as soon as possible, she would lecture him again. 

Reluctantly he picked up and said groggily "What?" "Hello to you too, Eren." "Sorry. I've just had a long day." "Why? What happened?" "Uhm... The usual. You know. College stress, a lot of customers at the café and so on." He was well aware that telling her the truth wouldn't have been a wise decision. "So, why did you call?", he asked in order to change the subject. "To check up on you and to tell you that you should call dad." "Did you really call just to say this?" He got noticeably annoyed at that. "Eren, I don't care about whatever petty drama you have with dad." "What do you mean with petty drama? It's not petty drama!" "I don't care. It's about Christmas and don't you dare make mom sad by not showing up." "Alright. I'll call him. But not today." "Eren", she exhorted. "I just told you that I had a long day! I'm gonna call him on the weekend or something." "Just don't forget about it." "I won't. Tell mom I said hi." "I will. Don't forget to take good care of yourself. I hope you're brushing your teeth everyday. And stay on top of your studies. Don't just study the night before an exam. And..." "I get it, I get it. Bye, Mikasa." And with that he quickly hung up, before he had to listen to more of her nagging.

He was aware that she was just worried about him and that she didn't know what this so called petty drama was actually about. In his opinion, it was better that way. But he didn't have the patience for that at that moment and went straight to sleep.

After that day everything went back to normal. Eren would attend his classes in the morning and work at the café in the afternoon. In the evening Levi would come, order the usual and go without saying anything else. And Eren was perfectly content with that. He didn't necessarily want something like that everyday. 

On Thursday though, exactly one week and one day after the events, something was a bit off. Levi came into the café just before Eren was getting ready to stop waiting and leave, and he seemed to be a bit distraught, although Eren couldn't be too sure about that. After ordering, Levi lingered at the counter for a while. 

"Is there something wrong with the order?", Eren asked cautiously. "No, it's not that. I just really don't want to fucking say this", the other returned. "What are you talking about?" Eren was visibly confused. "There is this Christmas party from my company tomorrow and I need you to be my date." "Wait, what?" "Hear me out", Levi seemed to be even more annoyed than when he entered, "Hange might be gullible at first, but she's still far from convinced. Even after that little... stunt from last week." "You're talking as if I've been in on your little scheme from the beginning." "That's not the point." Eren was dumbfounded. It was almost as if Levi was actively ignoring what he was saying.

"I would understand it, if you said no, however, please understand where I'm coming from. It's just one evening and we would leave as soon as possible. It's just a bunch of stupid assholes that I don't want to talk to anyway. It's basically just about convincing Hange and Erwin and that's it." "You're kidding, right?" "I'm not." "What?" "Trust me, I wish I was kidding too." "Then why not just tell them the truth?" "You have no idea how fucking annoying they would be then." "I don't know. It's really weird you know?" "There will be free food and I'll owe you something, if that helps."

Eren didn't know what to say. This whole situation seemed way too ridiculous to him to actually be real. He didn't know anything about this man, let alone his workplace. On the other hand though, it was only one evening and it wasn't like he had any plans for that day anyway. He felt stupid for thinking this, but the free food was pretty compelling to him. Almost everything was speaking against it, yet he was genuinely considering to just go with it. He thought about how bad it could possibly be and came to the conclusion, that there was a decent chance of it being more entertaining than rewatching The Office for the sixteenth time while pretending to study. 

"Uhm... Okay?", he eventually said, but not very convincingly. "Is that a yes?", Levi asked, still with the same stoic yet annoyed voice. "I guess?" "I'll take that as a yes then. I'll pick you up at this time tomorrow. Wear something a little more formal." Levi was about to leave, but Eren interjected "Wait! Shouldn't we know at least a little bit about each other? And shouldn't we have some sort of plan or something? I mean considering how many questions I was asked within one minute..." "Alright then. What do you think you need to know?" It was obvious that Levi simply wanted to go home already. "Like where you work? That would probably be a good place to start?" "At the law firm down the street. I'm presuming working at this café isn't the only thing you do?" "I'm in college and I'm studying... well... law." He didn't know what he had expected, but it was still a weird coincidence. 

"How old are you?", Eren asked next. "I'm twenty nine." "Twenty two." "I'm guessing that you picked up my name at one point last week. What's your name?" "Uhm... You do know that I have a name tag for a reason, right?" Levi looked at the prominent name tag on Eren's apron, took a small sip from his tea and said "Alright then, Emma." Eren looked down and realized that he was in fact wearing his elderly coworker's apron instead of his own. "That... That's not my name! My name's Eren." "Close enough." 

To say that he wasn't a little bit embarrassed about this, would have been a lie, so he quickly took off the apron, put it aside and wanted to change the subject "Anyway... What are we gonna tell them about... us?" "We'll just tell them, we've been dating for a month. Everything else is none of their fucking business. Anything else?" "I don't think so?" 

"Okay then. See you tomorrow, Emma", Levi said while making his way out of the café. "Hey!", Eren shouted to him, but he had already left.

If he was being honest, he still wasn't too sure about this whole plan. He had never been in a serious relationship and now he was supposed to play the boyfriend of a man he barely knew. As he kept thinking more about this, the more he got nervous. Levi wasn't going to just kiss him out of the blue again, right? Only afterwards did he realize, that they should have set up some clear boundaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that I have no clue about the college system in the USA, or about how you actually become a lawyer there. So I am sorry for fucking that up, but let's be real, this is fanfiction. Also I know that this update took quite a while, but I had a depressive episode haha


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to rewrite the entire thing. I am not happy.

Eren didn't want to admit it, but he was noticeably nervous about that evening. He wasn't able to properly concentrate during his classes and messed up a few orders at the café. Even though he kept telling himself that it wasn't actually important, he couldn't help but overthink everything over and over again and constantly asked himself the same questions. What if this was just some weird joke and Levi wasn't actually serious? For all he knew about the man, this was definitely a possibility. How was he supposed to behave? Was he supposed to act like they're one of those overly obnoxious lovey dovey couples or just be cool about it? He had never been in a relationship, so the boring romcoms Mikasa had made him watch when they were in high school were his only point of reference. 

When the last customer left shortly before six o'clock, he started cleaning up the café and went to the staff room to get changed. There was no way he would ever admit it, not even to himself, but he had put quite a bit of thought into what he was going to wear. There wasn't much to go off of. What Levi had said about wearing "something a bit more formal" wasn't really helping. In the end Eren decided to simply wear a white t-shirt and a black blazer. He deemed the black jeans he was wearing good enough. 

For the next thirty minutes he felt like time wasn't passing at all, yet extremely fast at the same time. All he could do was wait and keep overthinking this whole situation, since his attempts to distract himself were to no avail. It didn't take long until tons of questions circled through his mind again. What kind of party was it? Was it a serious company dinner? Or an actual party? He doubted that it would be the latter and wasn't sure, wether to be glad about that or not. On the one hand a little alcohol would make it much easier for him to get through the evening. On the other though, he wasn't necessarily keen on having to deal with drunk lawyers and businessmen. 

How was he supposed to play Levi's boyfriend, when he didn't know anything about him? Just the sound of the words "Levi's boyfriend" ringing in his head, made him feel weird and uncomfortable. Levi didn't seem like the nicest person, if he was being honest, and the thought of them being a couple just didn't feel right at all. Additionally, the current circumstances made it even weirder. 

Was he going to kiss him out of the blue again? Only now did Eren realize that they should have set up some clear boundaries. 

When Levi eventually walked through the door of the café, Eren realized that he had been biting his lip and fidgeting with his leg the entire time and stopped immediately at the sound of the small bell. "You ready?", Levi asked in his usual indifferent tone. Eren wasn't ready and he doubted that he'd ever be, so he just said "Yeah", got up from his seat and put his coat on, while walking towards Levi. On the way out he quickly locked the door and simply followed the other man.

While they were walking to the office building, neither of them said a word. To Eren it was an uncomfortable silence, while he could only imagine what was going on in Levi's head. Presumably annoyance or disinterest, judging from the never changing look on his face. He questioned, why he had agreed to this in the first place. There was no real reason for him to do any of this. 

Yet, there he was, standing in the lobby next to Levi, waiting for the elevator. In the middle of the room was a giant christmas tree, completed with fake presents underneath it. The walls were decorated with garlands and string lights. Even the interior of the elevator was filled with decorations and at that point Eren had to ask himself whether this was the doing of an extreme christmas enthusiast, or the entire company didn't know how much was too much. 

The mutual silence remained during the elevator ride and while Eren wanted to say something, he didn't know what, nor did he want to annoy Levi and make this evening worse than it had to be. 

As they eventually opened the door to what he presumed to be the entrance to the party, they were greeted with mall christmas music and the smell of gingerbread mixed with a blend of various strong aftershaves. In the corner there was yet another tree, this one bigger than the one in the lobby and this room hadn't been spared from the excessive use of decorations either. Although Eren was quite fond of the festive season, even he had to admit that they overdid it. 

Before they were able to undress their coats, the brunet woman, Hange, if Eren remembered correctly, came dashing towards them and trapped Levi in a tight hug, which seemed to squeeze even the last bit of air out of him. "Levi! You're here!", she shouted enthusiastically, probably breaking Levi's eardrums in the process. "If I wasn't, you would have dragged me here yourself and now get off of me, four eyes", Levi groaned while shoving her away. "And you are the secret boyfriend, huh?" she continued even more excitedly and completely unfazed by Levi's crude action. "What's your name? How did you two get together? For how long has this been going on?" She got interrupted by the blond man from the café "Cutie pie. Calm down. You're overwhelming him. I'm sorry. I didn't get to properly introduce myself. I'm Erwin", he spoke as he shook Eren's hand. 

Suddenly a man, whom Eren had never seen before and presumed to be a colleague, approached the odd couple, saying he had to talk to them. Finally Eren and Levi were able to hang their coats onto the coat hook next to the door and Eren had a moment to process what had just happened. Everything was happening so quickly, it was hard for him to not be overwhelmed. "Is she going to be like this the entire time?", he asked cautiously. "She usually shuts up when she has the answers she wants. So I'd suggest to just get over with it." 

At this moment Eren realized how awkward and careful he was around Levi and that this plan could never work, if he didn't start loosening up. However, this seemed like an impossible task, for he was too afraid that he'd get a punch to the face or at the very least get cursed out as soon as he made one mistake that annoyed Levi. He wasn't sure, whether this impression of him was completely justified, but seeing how he was around his supposed best friends made him come to the same conclusion every time he thought about it. 

Then again, he did agree to help him, for reasons that were still incomprehensible to him, so all he could do, was try his best to not seem like the awkward, confused and lost puppy that he was. "Let's get this fucking over with and answer her abundance of questions", Levi sighed and took Eren's hand to drag him along to wherever he was walking to. Eren, completely perplexed, wanted to pull away, but held himself back and instead stumbled along. 

"Alright, Hange. Ask your fucking questions. But one at a time", Levi said as soon as they stood in front of her. "Aw, you're holding hands! This is so cute!", she squealed and Levi simply shook his head and said "Come on. I'm not gonna answer shit if you don't stop squealing like a dying whale." "Okay, okay. What's your name?" Apparently nothing could wipe that giant grin off her face, because no matter what Levi did or said, her expression was as joyful as ever. "Uhm, Eren", he answered, failing miserable at his attempt to hide his nervousness. "Ooh, I like it! When did it start?" "About a month ago." Eren knew that it was the best choice to leave the rest of the interrogation to Levi. All he could have possibly done was mess it up, since the two of them hadn't coordinated their story. 

Levi answered with "None of your business" to more than one question, but Eren couldn't claim that he was paying a lot of attention to the conversation. He was too preoccupied with trying to process everything that was happening. It was almost embarrassing to him how easily overwhelmed he was. Hange was shooting one question after the other, at a speed that could make some rappers envious and Levi didn't seem like he was going to let go of his hand any time soon. He could only hope that it wasn't necessary for him to memorize all of that. 

"Why did you keep it a secret from me?", Hange basically shouted, pulling Eren out of his almost trance like state. "To avoid all of this bullshit. Is this all?", Levi responded. "No! I want to know more! And you didn't even answer some of my questions!" "So you're finished then. Good." Then Levi dragged Eren along again and they left her standing there without another word.

"Wasn't that like... really mean?", Eren asked hesitantly. "No. She's not gonna be insulted by that. She would have never stopped otherwise." He felt a bit sorry towards her. She seemed so excited and Levi just shut her up. Then again, why did he care? It's not like he was gonna see her again. Yet, he still wanted to go back and apologize, but didn't. Instead he was standing next to Levi at the buffet table. Levi's statement of free food seemed like a bit of an overstatement now, since the entire table was filled with mostly cookies, cupcakes, slices of cake and a small pile of mini sandwiches. "Is that supposed to be the free food you were talking about?" "What? It's food and you don't have to pay for it. That's the definition of free food. You have a problem with it?" "No, it's just that I haven't eaten since the morning" It was almost just a mere whisper that had to have been hard to hear over Mariah Carrey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You", but Levi seemed to have picked it up anyway, because he said "I'll buy you dinner later."

Eren wasn't sure, if this was a legitimate offer or just part of the act, because Hange and Erwin were still relatively close to them, but figured that he would later see which one it was. Secretly he was hoping that it was the first option, but for now he settled for the assortment of deserts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took an eternity, but like I said I had to rewrite it because I was stupid and it accidentally got deleted, and I kinda got frustrated so it's even shittier than it would have been otherwise haha


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been gone for quite a while haha... Sorry

Despite his disappointment in the so called buffet, Eren grabbed a tiny gingerbread man and ate it in one bite. Levi seemed to be contemplating what to choose, or whether he wanted anything at all, and ended up eventually grabbing one of the chocolate cupcakes, but Eren was quick to intervene. "Oh, no. You wouldn't like that. Take, uhm...", his gaze went across the table until he found something he deemed suitable and continued, "This one!", while pointing to some blueberry tarts. He then snatched the cupcake from Levi's hand to eat it himself. 

He could hear Hange squealing a few feet away and suddenly realized how weird that must have looked like. Suddenly he was hyperaware of Levi's hand in his again and wanted to hide out of embarrassment.

Quite some time passed, during which Levi talked to a few people that came up to him, while Eren just kept standing around, eating cookies and feeling useless and out of place. He had to wonder how much longer they would be staying, because, if he was being honest, at that point he just wanted to go home. His legs were starting to hurt, he had been standing around in the café for hours after all, and the cookies didn't really satisfy his hunger at all. 

He noticed Levi looking over to the door and eventually asked quietly "Hey... Uhm... Levi? How much longer are we gonna stay?" "We'll leave soon. I just gotta talk to someone real quick. Don't fuck shit up while I'm gone." And with that Levi left and Eren stood alone at the buffet table, not knowing what to do. Hange and Erwin were the only other people he kind of knew, but there was no way he would walk up to them and risk getting them caught in their little lie. 

However, it didn't take long until Erwin was standing next to him, saying "Levi ran off, huh?" Eren, who was completely surprised by the sudden approach, stammered "Oh... Uh... Yeah. I guess." "This isn't exactly your type of gathering, right?" "Not really." Eren let out a nervous chuckle and he could only wish that Erwin wouldn't ask anything about their supposed relationship. "Figures. I'm not sure why Hange was so adamant about Levi dragging you along to this. The party next week would probably be more suitable for you." That worried him. Levi had never said anything about that and he hoped that he wouldn't be dragged into that as well. "Are you going to be there?", Erwin asked. "I don't know. Levi hasn't mentioned anything." 

"Speaking of the devil. Levi, how could you leave your date alone like that?" "Shut up, eyebrows. I was just talking to Johnson. He wants to talk to you later. Come on Eren, let's leave this shit hole." "Apropos. I hope to see you both next week. Hange would also be very excited." "Fuck. Hange's gonna pester me about this for the entire week", Levi murmured and told Erwin simply "I'll think about it. See you on Monday." "We both know that you're no match for Hange's persistency." "Whatever you say. Let's go Eren."

Levi grabbed his hand again to drag him along and Eren was almost starting to get used to it. He said a quick "Goodbye", to Erwin and went along with Levi. It would have been a lie if he said that he wasn't glad that it was over, but he still wanted to say goodbye to Hange. Then again, she most likely would have managed to keep them there quite a bit longer, so it was probably for the best.

When they eventually left the building, Eren was finally able to relax. "Nice improvisation there", Levi said nonchalantly. "What do you mean?" 

Eren was severely confused. All he had done was be embarrassed and overwhelmed. He hadn't even talked much except for occasionally answering some mundane questions from, what he presumed to be Levi's coworkers, with vague statements. 

"That cupcake thing at the buffet. I could hear Hange squealing from across the room." Eren let out a short "Oh" out of realization and said "I've been picking out desserts for you daily for two years. It's like a compulsion at this point." "So, what do you wanna eat?" "Huh?" "I told you I'd buy you dinner. Quick, before I change my mind." 

It actually was a legitimate offer and Eren was surprised, because he really wasn't expecting that. He simply said the first restaurant that came to his mind. "There's this Chinese place down the road", he said cautiously. It was cheap and fast, but still good. "Alright then."

When they stood in front of the restaurant, Eren couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. This was probably far from what Levi was used to, judging from his looks. He presumed that Levi ate at five star restaurants regularly. Additionally, it was a weird thought that he would pay for his dinner. Then again, he had promised him free food, so technically it was only fair. Still, he didn't Levi to spend a fortune for a simple dinner. Apart from that, he also doubted that he would even be willing to spend more than ten dollars on him in the first place. 

It didn't take long until they arrived at the small establishment. Eren was basically a regular at that place. He simply didn't have the time, or more accurately the motivation, to cook anything himself, so he usually got take out from a few different places. 

The owner of the place greeted him with a warm smile and a simple "Hello Eren! What can I get you today?" "Hi! I'll just take the stir fried noodles with chicken." "Make that two", Levi interjected to Eren's surprise. "Alright. To go?" Eren was about to say yes, but Levi was quicker "We'll eat here." All Eren did, was to give Levi a confused glance, because he didn't want to risk losing his free dinner by saying something stupid.

Technically he didn't mind having dinner with someone else instead of watching Netflix. However he had this disquieting feeling that something was up and it didn't go away. The fact that Levi didn't say a word while they were waiting for their food only made it worse. At this point he should have been accustomed to the everlasting silence between them, but he couldn't. It also wasn't helping that Levi always looked like he was about to kill someone. While they were sitting at their table, Eren couldn't help but fidget with his leg, while enduring the mental torture that came with the awkwardness of this situation.

Relief swept over him when their food was finally served and they were at least doing something. He wanted to ask Levi, why he decided to eat with him, but he was too scared that it would come off as rude. So Eren kept eating quietly, both hoping and fearing that the other would say something, anything really.

And it didn't take too long until the dreaded moment came and Levi started to speak "So. You probably heard what Erwin said." "Oh... Uhm... Yeah." Eren knew exactly what he was talking about and he also knew exactly what Levi was going to say next, but he didn't want to hear it. 

That evening had been extremely exhausting. They had only been there for about two hours, but to Eren it had seemed like an eternity and he wasn't sure if he was able to get through that a second time. "I don't really want to ask you, but would you do me that favor?" Normally people would have been at least a bit hesitant about asking this, or somewhat show some sort of sign that they're sorry about asking this, or at least Eren thought so, but Levi was as stoic as ever, with a tiny but of annoyance in his tone. Maybe Eren was just imagining the latter, but even so, he didn't have the courage to say no. Partially because he wasn't sure what to expect if he did, and also because he was simply too nice. As annoying and weird as Hange could be, he didn't have the heart to ever crush her excitement about this whole thing. It would have been a lie for him to say that he hadn't grown a bit fond of the eccentric woman, even though he was also slightly wary of her. Something about Hange made him like her already, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was, especially since he had only met her twice. 

After Eren hadn't answered for quite a while, since he had to seriously contemplate his decision, Levi continued "It would be a more casual thing, there would be actual food and alcohol, if that helps you decide." "You won't lure me in with free food again, especially if it's as disappointing as last time." That was a lie. He knew very well that he would attend almost any event, as long as there's a chance for free food and the alcohol was very intriguing. Yet, he didn't want to show that to Levi, although he had the slight suspicion that he had already seen through that. "Plus I don't want to watch you talk to colleagues for two hours again." "Like I said, it's gonna be a more casual thing. No business related stuff." 

Still contemplating, Eren ended up saying "Can I think about it? I'll let you know on Monday, okay?", to buy himself some time. "Alright." They finished their meal in silence and Eren was both glad to have some more time to think and uncertain about all of this. 

Levi payed for the food and they left. After Eren had said a quick "Bye", they went their separate ways and he was couldn't wait to finally get home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four months later and I finally managed to post a chapter again. Everyone has probably already forgotten about this fic haha. I had a lot of stress lately, emotionally and because of school. A lot happened and I just wasn't in a position where I could have written anything for this. But you're not here to read my fucking sob story haha. Hope the chapter is okay.


	7. Chapter 7

When Saturday evening rolled around, Eren still hadn't made a definite decision yet and all he wanted was for Levi to tell him that the party got cancelled on Monday. He needed distraction and the little get together with his friends was just the right thing for him and when his doorbell finally rang, he gladly opened the door for Armin. "Hey. Are you ready?", he asked. Eren nodded, grabbed his keys and jacket and followed Armin outside. 

They were meeting at Jean's place, much to Eren's dismay, but even that couldn't change the fact that he was in a good mood now that he saw his friend. It wasn't far away from his apartment, so they walked there while Armin told him about his week. It was a pleasant change from the awkward silence that always lingered between Levi and him and he had almost forgotten what it's like to talk comfortably with someone. 

Jean welcomed them with his usual "Hey Armin and asshead", but even that was better to Eren than Levi's company. He didn't have to be cautious of his every word and didn't feel out of place. 

They plopped down on the couch and Conny handed them both a can of beer while they greeted everyone else who was already there. Christa and Ymir occupied the left side of the couch and Conny was sitting on the floor between the sofa and the table and Eren had to wonder, why he did that. The main reason for their gathering was to watch the basketball game between the LA Clippers and Chicago Bulls and it would start in two hours. Eren was excited and when it came to sports he didn't mind being at Jean's place. He had the biggest TV and the most comfortable couch out of all of them, so it didn't bother him in those cases, but otherwise he would never set foot in this apartment. 

"Eren! Armin! Long time no see!", Sasha exclaimed as she came out of the kitchen with a plate full of sandwiches. "What have you been up to?" Sasha hadn't been to their last few gatherings since she had been quite busy, so Eren was happy to see her again. "Hey Sasha! They're not all for you, right?", he asked and pointed to the plate which she was putting down onto the couch table. "Very funny, Eren. No, they're for all of us", she answered and he immediately grabbed one. 

"Don't empty my entire fridge again!", Jean warned them, but no one really payed attention to that and kept talking about random stuff. The first beers were emptied in no time and they had to come to an agreement on who would get the beer for the rest of the evening. This was an argument they had every time they gathered at Jean's apartment. During the winter, Jean always kept the beer cans on the balcony and no one wanted to be the one who had to go outside into the freezing cold. At one point they had decided to let fate decide whoever would be the unlucky person. Jean picked one of the pieces of paper from a small bowl and, after unfolding it, said "And the loser of the day is, drumroll please", Conny complied by hitting the desk with two pens, "Eren!" Jean showed the piece of paper to everyone and basically shoved it into Eren's face. He let out an annoyed groan and pushed himself up to fulfill his task. 

Of course the cans wouldn't stand next to the door. No, they were the furthest away from it as possible and the balcony wasn't the smallest. He had to walk back and forth a few times, since he couldn't have carried seven cans at once. However, this wasn't the worst part. It would only get worse as time passed by, because all of them drank at different speeds and the errand person had to get the beer for everyone at any time. 

When the game started, all of them had already emptied quite a few cans and were overly excited because of it. At times they ended up being a bit too loud and Jean feared that his neighbors would show up at his door any moment. 

Eren wasn't thinking about anything related to Levi and was completely focused on the game. That was until the halftime show rolled around. He quickly went outside to get more beer and when he sat down again, Armin asked "So, what happened with the regular? You know. The thing you told me about?" He knew nothing about what had happened after the first kiss, because Eren simply hadn't been in the right state of mind to talk about this whole ordeal again and he wasn't too happy about the fact, that Armin brought it up again. 

Everyone else was busy. They were either talking or getting some food from the kitchen, so he though it was safe to tell him about. Sooner or later that would have happened anyway. "Well. We talked about it and he said that it was just to get his friends off his back. We agreed to forget about it and never mentioned it again. Uhm, but then...", Eren paused for a moment. Armin was visibly confused and asked "What do you mean, then? Isn't that the end of it?" "Well... I kind of agreed to go to his company's Christmas party with him." It was hard for him to admit it and he didn't want to say it out loud, but he managed to get it out. "What? Why? When is it?" 

Eren took a giant sip of his beer and continued "He lured me in with free food, okay? It was yesterday. We just stayed for two hours and he bought me dinner." "Why did you agree to that?" "I told you. He bought me dinner." "So, what now? Are you like a couple now?" "What? No! It was just for show." Just how long did that halftime show last? Eren was getting frustrated and wanted to stop talking and even thinking about this topic, but he knew that Armin was the only person he could talk to about this and if he was lucky, he might have even gotten a bit of advice from him. 

"So, that was it?", Armin continued asking. "Not quite... He asked me to come to another Christmas party..." "You said no, right?" "Not quite..." "Eren", Armin said in a frustrated tone. "I just told him that I would think about it and tell him on Monday." "Eren. Don't get dragged into this too much. Nothing good can come out of faking a relationship." "I know, I know. But his friend... She's so excited about it and I feel like it would break her heart." "Which friend?" "She was the one who arranged the blind dates and wanted so desperately for Levi to be in a relationship and she's so happy to see him be in one." "Really, Eren? You don't even know her. You know that it's a bad idea. Just say no." "But there's free food and alcohol", he whined. "At this point he should just start paying you." "I'm not a call boy!" 

Right at this moment Jean came back from the kitchen and had to throw in his two cents "Yeah, right? Who would even want to book you?" "Shut up Jean. You don't even know what we're talking about", Eren said and boxed Jean's arm. "It kind of seems like you are though. Food could also be a form of payment", Armin added. "You two should shut up! The game's about to start again!", Sasha now said and they went quiet immediately. 

For the rest of the night neither Eren nor Armin brought it up again and Eren had almost forgot about it completely. Until the next morning. He woke up in his room with a pounding headache and it didn't take long until he remembered the cause of his worries, which made his headache even worse. 

But it didn't get better, because not even ten minutes after he had woken up, his phone started ringing and it was the person he wanted to talk the least. However, he picked up anyway, since he knew that nothing good would come out of ignoring that call. 

"Hi, dad", he said groggily. "Eren. Didn't Mikasa tell you to call me?" "I was going to." "Never mind. I will book a flight for you for Christmas and send you an e-mail with the details." "Alright. Tell mom I said hi. See you on Christmas." Eren was about to hang up, since he really didn't want to continue this conversation, but his dad quickly interjected "Eren. Don't be rude. Tell me how you're studies are going." "I'll tell you on Christmas." "What am I going to do with you? It doesn't matter. On another note, do you finally have a girlfriend you can bring home for Christmas?" He was about to lose it, but did his best to conceal his anger "Dad? Are you serious right now?" "Of course. I hope you're out of that strange phase of yours and both you mom and I would be very happy to see you with a girlfriend." 

Eren wanted to scream at him and tell him to fuck off, but instead he kept quiet, even though that was a nearly impossible task for him. "And? I need to know whether I have to book a second seat or not." Maybe it was the little bit of alcohol that was still in his blood or he simply had a death wish, but he suddenly came up with an idea. It was risky, but he was willing to give it a try. 

"Yes. You can book two seats. I'll bring someone", he said nonchalantly. "That's great, Eren. I always knew you would eventually come to your senses." "Yeah, ok, dad. I have some stuff to do for college now. See you on Christmas." "Yes. See you on Christmas."

Feeling both relieved and extremely tense, he threw his phone to the other side of the bed. He decided that it would be best for him to go back to sleep. He didn't even want to imagine Levi's reaction to his borderline insane plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm currently motivated, so here's another chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

The realization didn't properly hit him until his shift at the café. He wondered, what he had been thinking. How would he be able to bring this up in front of Levi? A mere "Hello" in his general direction was already unnerving enough. Once again he dreaded the moment in which Levi would walk through that door. 

While the second thoughts on whether he should bring it up in the first place didn't stop, he tried to comfort himself, by thinking that it would sort itself out when the time came. His decision would depend on how much courage he would be able to muster up once Levi stood in front of him.

Over the course of the day he also realized, that there would be a few more problems he would have to find a solution for. One of them was Mikasa. He wasn't sure if he should let her in on his stupid ploy or keep her in the dark. However, he figured that that would be a concern for another day. 

When he heard the small bell from the door ring and saw Levi coming in, his heart seemed to stop beating altogether. The second guessing got worse and worse with every step he took and when he stood in front of the counter, Eren stopped froze and the simple act of breathing seemed impossible to him. Though he did wonder, why he was so scared of this. After all, Levi was the one who had started this whole ordeal. 

"So, what's your answer?" Not knowing what sort of demon was momentarily possessing him, Eren answered "I'll do it. Under one condition." "What is it?" "Do you have plans for Christmas eve?" He wanted to take that back immediately. He wanted to hide. He wanted to run away from this situation and never look back. But his feet were glued to the floor. The confidence he had had just a moment ago seemed to be slipping away like a cheap halloween mask with an elastic band that was way too big for his head. That was at least the mental image he had of himself at that moment.

It didn't make it easier for him that there was no way he could have judged Levi's character. What he was thinking would probably remain a mystery to him forever. Not that he was particularly keen on getting to know him more than he already had, but it would have been of help to him if he didn't have such a stoic face at all times. 

Levi didn't show any signs of... Well anything really. He simply said "What is this about?", in the same tone as always and Eren was glad that he hadn't cursed him out and told him to go fuck himself yet. "It's a long story. Tell me if you're free or not first." He might have sounded a bit more desperate than he intended to, but it seemed to get his point across. "Yes. I am. So what the fuck is this about?" Eren wasn't sure whether the cursing was an indicator that Levi wasn't having any of this, or that he should hurry up and tell him already. 

He didn't want to spend unnecessary brain capacity by wondering why Levi was free on Christmas in the first place, since he feared that his brain would just give up with all the ongoing tasks and play the windows shutdown sound. All he wanted, was to get it over with and dig his own grave afterwards. 

He thought that it wouldn't have been the best decision to go into too much detail, for more than one reason, and tried to keep it as vague as possible, while still providing the fundamental details. "Basically I want to annoy my dad", was the best he could come up with. "And what does that have to do with me?" Levi crossed his arms in front of his chest, making Eren even more nervous than he already was. "Okay. Before you say anything else, please hear me out first." 

And then the words started spilling out of his mouth, seemingly on their own. "I have this problem with my dad and he called me yesterday because of Christmas. He said some shit that made me angry and when he asked me if I'm gonna bring someone, I suddenly got this idea to bring someone who would infuriate him. So I said yes and you're basically the only person I know who would be fitting for that." He hadn't noticed that he had said all of that in a single breath until he inhaled sharply after finishing his little rant. 

Mentally he was already prepared for the worst. Though, to his surprise, Levi didn't curse at him, or asked him if he was insane. "You mean to tell me that you need my help to ruin Christmas for your family?" "I don't want to ruin Christmas. I just want to get my dad mad." "Sounds like ruining Christmas to me." "Do you actually care about that though?" Slowly Eren was getting frustrated. He would have rather had Levi straight up telling him that he wouldn't do it, instead of whatever this currently was. 

"Not really. Just checking. What would I have to do?" Not sure whether Levi was genuinely considering it, he simply said "Not much. Just be yourself, I guess?" "I'm not sure if that's supposed to be an insult or a compliment. But whatever. I'll do it." Eren was convinced he hadn't heard him right. "What?" "I said, I'll fucking do it." Although he had been trying to get Levi to agree, he still had doubts about his plan, so he wasn't sure, whether he was supposed to be happy about this outcome or not. 

For the moment though, he barely stopped himself from hugging Levi on the spot. Partially for agreeing, and partially for not killing him. But instead he pushed out a relieved "Thank you". His excitement didn't last long though. He hadn't mentioned a pretty crucial part yet and almost forgot about it entirely, until Levi asked "Where do your parents live?" He was hesitant, but knew that he'd have to tell him sooner or later anyway. "Canada", he said quietly. "Canada?", Levi repeated. "Canada." A few seconds of silence passed after which Eren quickly continued "You won't have to pay for anything though! My dad's paying for the flights and all that. It's in a small town close to Ottawa, so it's not even that far away."

Eren was already writing his testament in his head and he could feel how the color left his face. He thought that he must have looked like a ghost at that point. "Just Christmas eve?", Levi asked and Eren wasn't sure what to make of that. "Yeah. Just Christmas Eve." "Well, if you come to Hange's place with me on Christmas day, I'll go to fucking Canada with you." 

It almost seemed like they were negotiating during a business deal and Eren was just waiting for Levi to slam a contract onto the counter. He was well aware of the fact that this was slowly getting out of hand, but to him there was no way he would have backed out after all of his mental efforts to even mention his weird idea to Levi. So, despite wanting all of this to end, he said "Alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small thing I wanna get off my chest: I know that I'm not really good at writing or anything and I'm doing this only for fun, but thank you to everyone who takes interest in this fanfic and reads it.   
That's it. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that you're literally reading and hearing this everywhere, but I just wanted to pop in and say that I hope everyone's safe and fine. Stay inside guys. Watch some anime, play videogames or read shitty fanfiction like this one ✌︎

Somewhen over the course of the week, they had exchanged phone numbers. Eren lovingly had set Levi's contact name to "Business Partner", since that seemed like the most appropriate name to him. Now, whenever he opened his contacts, one of the first things he saw was a reminder of his imminent doom. 

Maybe it was because he had been through it before and knew what was awaiting him, or because he was scared of what Levi would be like when he drank alcohol, but he was even more nervous than last time. In Eren's mind were two options. Either Levi would become even more of an asshole, which was hard for Eren to imagine but not impossible, or he would become nicer, which was definitely impossible for Eren to imagine and just as scary as the other option. The thought of Levi being nice was weird and creepy to him and sent shivers down his spine. 

If he had learnt anything about the man over the last two weeks, it was that he was the coldest person Eren had ever met and that meant something, considering he grew up with Mikasa. His face was as stoic as a statue, making Eren wonder, whether he had any muscles in his face at all. He was also convinced, that the only emotions Levi was able to feel were annoyance and nothingness. Not that it was any of his business, but he did sometimes theorize about the reasons for that. None of his little conspiracy theories ended up making sense though and he figured that it was probably for the best if he didn't know.

This time he didn't really care about what he was wearing. Since he had been told that it would be a casual get-together, he decided that his hoodie and jeans were good enough. If there was a dress code, it would have been Levi's responsibility to text him. 

After his shift had ended, he waited patiently, mindlessly scrolling through reddit. However, when Levi still wasn't there at 6:45 his patience started to decline. "Yo, where you at", was what he wanted to text Levi initially, until he remembered, who he was talking to. Instead he went with "When are you going to be here?" It didn't take too long until he got the reply "in a few minutes". It was a completely normal response, yet it somehow reeked of Levi's typical indifference. 

When he eventually arrived, Eren was taken aback quite a bit. This was the first time he had ever seen Levi wearing something other than his usual suit and up until that point Eren had been convinced that a suit was the only attire Levi was ever seen in. But as he walked in with a regular black sweater under his coat, black jeans and Doc Martens of all things, Eren was perplexed, to say the least. 

He put his coat on in a swift motion, locked the door on his way out and wanted to just get this over with. Though Levi didn't start walking, but instead pulled out his phone and seemed to be texting someone. "Hange's gonna pick us up. She should be here shortly", he said without looking up from his phone. "Uhm... Where are we going?", Eren asked a bit bewildered. "To Hange's place, unfortunately." He shoved the phone into the pocket of his coat and must have seen Eren's rather odd facial expression, because he continued "If you drag me to fucking Canada, I think you'll be okay with driving a few streets away." 

Eren was certain that Levi absolutely hated him for even coming up with that insane plane, and he would have lied if he said he didn't hate himself for it too. But backing out now wasn't an option for him anymore. It was way too late for that and at that point he was determined to go through with it, no matter how anxious it made him.

During their wait, neither of them said a word. He knew that there was no way that Levi would start a conversation and Eren, who usually talked 90% of the time, was too scared to do so. It wasn't like he would be able to think of something to talk about anyway. That left him alone with his nervousness. It was impossible that they would get away with just standing around and holding hands. They would have to act like an actual couple and as much as Eren had thought he hadn't been ready last time, he absolutely wasn't ready this time. 

The sudden sound of a car honking pulled Eren out of his thoughts and back into the equally scary reality. Hange was waving at them, of course not without her signature grin, and gestured them to get in the car. Someone, whom Eren had never seen before, was occupying the passenger's seat and only on further inspection did he see, someone else was sitting in the backseat. That meant that he would be squeezed between either Levi and the car door or Levi and the stranger. Considering the fact that Levi was present in both of the options, he definitely preferred the car door over the stranger. He knew that he wouldn't have much of a say in this, but he still silently hoped that Levi would take the middle seat. 

He didn't necessarily have a problem with being squeezed in the car. It was definitely better than the times in which he had to lay in the trunk because there were too many people. Relief swept over him when Levi opened the car and got in first. "Hello Eren! Long time no see! How are you doing?", Hange exclaimed as she started driving. "Uhm... I'm fine. How are you?" Non of this was easy for him. The two strangers weren't saying anything except for a quick "Hi" when they had entered the car and Levi wasn't saying anything either. He was just sitting beside him, uncomfortably close and seemed to be leaving him to his own devices. 

"I'm great! I finally get to see you again! I still have a million questions!" Finally Levi said something to interrupt here before she could bombard Eren with whatever she was going to ask "For fucks sake, Hange. Don't pester him already." "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. But I'll get back to it!" "Please don't", Eren thought to himself, but didn't dare to say it out loud. "How impolite of me! I haven't introduced you yet! Eren, this is Mike and this is Auruo. Mike, Auruo, this is Eren! He's Levi's secret sweetheart!" 

Eren could almost feel Levi's annoyance at her comment, but seemed to let it slide. Eren remained silent for the rest of the car ride, while the others were talking about things that he had no clue about. However, Levi wasn't saying much either. Other than an occasional crude remark, he also just sat there. At that point, Eren asked himself, how he could let this whole situation get to where it was now and just wanted that evening to go over quietly and end as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post a chapter like two weeks ago, but I had to study for my Italian exam and then I had other school work and other stuff to do, so I didn't really have the time. Anyway. Now it's out. That's it. Haha


	10. Chapter 10

After, what felt like an eternity to Eren, they finally arrived at their destination. It was a small but nice house and he was positive that he now knew, who had been responsible for the abundance of Christmas decoration at the office building. A giant Frosty The Snowman inflatable was in the middle of the front yard right next to a lit up Santa in a sleigh with a bunch of reindeer and the house itself seemed to be drowning in Christmas lights. 

To say that Eren was glad to finally get out of the car and not be squished in between a door and Levi, would have been an understatement. However, his relief didn't last long. One thing he had forgotten about, was that Levi apparently liked to drag him around by holding his hand at all times. The sudden contact startled him for a second, but he tried his best to keep his cool and not blow their cover.

The Christmas decorations obviously didn't stop outside. As soon as they entered, he worried that the smallest movements would rip something off the walls or knock something over. Levi let go of his hand for a short moment, so that both of them could take off their coats, just to grab it again seconds later. 

Quite a few people were already there and Eren could hear talking and laughter coming from inside the house. He felt like an intruder, but he shoved all of those thoughts into the back of his mind for the moment. They weren't helping and there wasn't really anything he could have done about it anyway. 

"Alright Eren. Welcome! Make yourself at home! If you need anything, feel free to ask me or Erwin. Or just get it yourself. I have to get some things ready now, but Levi knows this place like the back of his hand! I'll get back to you!", Hange spewed and then ran off. The two people they had been in the car with were nowhere to be seen and Eren was wondering, how big this house really was. "Now what?", Eren asked quietly. "I'd suggest we get some alcohol. That's gonna make this a bit easier at least. Just stay away from Hange's self made eggnog. I don't know what's in there and I don't think I want to know", Levi said as he started dragging Eren along to what seemed to be the kitchen.

On the way they went past quite a few people, some of which greeted Levi and some sent what seemed to be puzzled looks towards the two after seeing them holding hands. Levi poured some sort of liquor, which Eren had never heard of, into two cups and handed him one. "Cheers. To a horrible evening", Levi said, raising his cup a bit and then downing the contents in one go. Eren did the same and before he could put the cup down, Levi was already filling it up again. The drink didn't necessarily burn his throat, but he could still feel, that the alcohol percentage had to have been quite high.

After they drank their second drink, they moved to the living room and sat on the couch. Some Christmas movie was on TV, which Eren didn't pay any attention to. He was slowly feeling the buzz kick in. He would claim, that he could hold his liquor quite well, but even he had to admit that whatever he had in his cup was strong. Just as he was about to relax a little, Hange suddenly stuck her head between the two of them from behind. "What are my two love birds doing?" Completely startled from the sudden approach, Eren flinched and almost spilled his drink. At that point, no one could have convinced him, that she didn't have some sort of superpower. "Fucking hell, Hange", Levi cursed, "What is it?" "Well. Since I have you both here, I just have to take a picture of you!" "Please tell me you're not talking about that fucking polaroid thing." "Yes, I'm talking about that polaroid thing! Here. Wear this." She put a Santa hat on both their heads and walked around the couch, so that she was standing in front of them. 

"What is this about?", Eren asked no one in particular. "Eren, dear. I always take polaroids at my parties! I have to commemorate them! Now, get ready!" "Just do it, before she gets out the fucking full on Santa costumes." "Wait, wait, wait. This is boring. Do something a couple would do!" "Like what? Fuck?", Levi stated bluntly and Eren just looked at him in disbelief. "No! Then I won't be able to show my collection to my grandkids! I can't have pornography in there. I know something! Do a love shot!" "So you can't have pornography, but you can promote alcoholism", Levi commented. "Shush! Now, come on!" "Ugh. Whatever." 

They linked their arms with the cups in their hands and Eren got scared that he would spill the contents all over himself and Levi. The last thing he needed was a pissed off Levi. Well, more pissed off than he already seemed to be. He was closer to Levi than he would have liked to. Something made him feel like they were more intimate at that moment, than they were when Levi surprise-kissed him three weeks ago. Maybe it was due to the alcohol, maybe it was due to the sparse lighting or maybe it was due to the fact that he had never paid much attention to it, but Eren realized, that Levi's eyes weren't completely grey like he had previously thought. They definitely had a light blue undertone to them and Eren asked himself, why he even cared about that. 

There were way too many things he was overly cautious about. While he felt very uncomfortable, he had to make sure, that he didn't seem too tense. He also had to make sure, that he didn't accidentally spill his drink, or move in a way that would make Levi spill his. When he finally heard the shutter from the camera, he was about to get out of the strange embrace, but Hange was quick to intervene "Wait! I need two more!" "Why do you need three pictures of that?", Eren asked very confused. "Isn't that obvious? Just do it before I start duct-taping you in place!"

She didn't have to say that twice. Eren took her threat very seriously and complied. By the time the third picture was taken, his cup was empty and he was finally able to get out of the uncomfortable position. His arm fell to his side and he looked at Hange expectantly. "So, why the fuck did you need three pictures?", Levi asked annoyed. "Levi. I know that you hate taking pictures, but every good couple needs couple pictures. I just took the opportunity. Here!" She handed both of them one polaroid each and Eren was surprised to see, that it didn't look as unnatural as it felt. Objectively it was a nice picture and he did like the aesthetic of polaroids. If it wasn't for the fact that he was a broke college student, he might have even thought about getting one of those cameras himself. Had the relationship been real, he would have probably treasured it. But the way things were, it just served as a reminder of the very strange reality he had found himself in.

"I'm sorry, but I have to take the hats back. I need them for more pictures", Hange ripped Eren out of his thoughts and the hat off his head. "You have to come to the kitchen now! I'm getting the jello shots out!", she added and disappeared. "Uhm... She does know, that mobile phones with cameras exist, right?", Eren asked, while reluctantly getting off the couch. "She does. But for some reason she insists on taking polaroids instead. It's a pain in the ass", Levi answered, while taking Eren's hand again to drag him along. 

The kitchen table was covered in red and green jello shots and a small crowd of people was gathered around it. "The green ones have apple flavor and the red ones strawberry! Take however many you like!", Hange stated proudly. "We're gonna order pizza later. Tell Hange or me what you want", Erwin, who was now standing next to her, added. Everyone took one of the small cups, some shouted cheers or something similar and soon half the table was emptied. "Hello Levi. And hello to you too, Eren. I'm sorry that I couldn't greet you earlier, but I'm glad you're both here", Erwin said to the odd couple and Eren wasn't sure wether to be relieved to see another familiar face, or scared about messing up. "We both know that Hange wouldn't have allowed us not to come", Levi stated bluntly, forcing his second jello shot down. "I can still be glad that you came though. Anyway. I just wanted to ask what pizza you want." 

Eren looked at Levi, considering asking him if he wanted to share one or have his own, but quickly realized that there was no way he would have had enough with just half a pizza. "Pepperoni for me", he then decided and Levi said "Just whatever." 

The "whatever" Levi had ordered turned out to be salami. Eren didn't know if Erwin just knew what he wanted, or he chose at random. In any case, he seemed to be content with it. It had taken an eternity for their order to arrive, but considering the enormous amount they had ordered, that was to be expected. Levi hadn't asked Eren for money when he went to the front door with Erwin to somehow bring all the boxes to the kitchen, so Eren wondered, who had paid for it. There was no way the two hosts would have been able to finance all of that. If he was being honest though, he didn't really care. At that point he had enough alcohol in his system to just enjoy whatever there was to enjoy and not question basically anything. 

The two had reclaimed their place on the sofa with their dinner. Both of them had had quite a few more drinks already and they had refilled their cups before they sat down. People were scattered around the living room and kitchen and Eren was more open to conversation, now that he had the necessary buzz for it. Not that he was talking much to most people there, mostly due to the fact that they were complete strangers to him and were already conversing with some of the others. One other party guest however, was particularly nice to him. Petra was her name, if he was remembering it correctly. They had started talking while the pizzas were on their way and he learned, that she was one of Levi's friends from high school, along with Erwin and Hange. The way Eren saw it, she was way too sweet to be friends with Levi. Petra didn't ask anything about their supposed relationship though, which he was very thankful for. 

Now she was gone and Eren didn't feel like starting a conversation with someone else. So instead he just watched the Christmas movie that was on TV. He had definitely never heard of it and he definitely wasn't paying enough attention to understand, what exactly it was about. Levi was occasionally talking a little bit with whoever approached him, but was otherwise rather quiet, as per usual. 

"Come on", Levi told Eren after they had finished eating. Eren's box was empty, while the other's still had two sliced left. "Where are we going?" "Your hands are fucking covered in grease and we can't just leave the boxes lying around anywhere." Eren didn't want to argue, so he got up and followed Levi to the kitchen, where they put the empty box to the others and Levi put his leftovers in the fridge. They washed their hands and before they could leave the kitchen, Erwin and Hange approached them. "Stop! Look what's above you!", Hange said suspiciously enthusiastic. 

Both of them looked up at the same time and they saw the cause of Hange's euphoria. Right above them in the doorframe hung a mistletoe. Up until now, Eren had been convinced that those things only existed in cheesy romcoms, but there it was, mocking him. The one thing that hadn't even crossed his mind, was that he would have to kiss Levi. He had seen it as an unspoken rule of their contract relationship, to not go that far. Even after Levi's stunt at the café, Eren was sure that he wouldn't do that again. This situation was different though. There wasn't really any way to get out of it without making it come off as weird or ruining their act altogether. 

"You know the rules and so do I", Hange said triumphantly. Levi sighed and, before Eren could protest, or do anything really, pressed a short kiss onto his lips. "Happy now?", Levi asked, but Hange only whined in return. "No! That's not a kiss! It has to be a real kiss or it doesn't count!" Eren was embarrassingly dumbfounded. The short peck from Levi was enough to make his drunk ass blush. If the lighting had been better and his face wasn't completely flushed from the alcohol already, he would have been more worried about Hange, Erwin and especially Levi seeing it. 

He didn't have much time to recover from the initial shock though, because Levi grabbed his neck and pulled him down in a quick motion, after visibly rolling his eyes. If he hadn't been as drunk as he was, he probably wouldn't have been able to react as fast as he did. Instead of protesting or just standing there like a brick wall, he went along with it. He put his arms around Levi's waist and kissed him back, shutting his eyes. Levi's lips were softer than he had expected. He had also never expected him to be such a good kisser. Still blaming the alcohol for his every action and reaction, Eren let himself go completely. 

It didn't last long though until Levi broke the kiss with the words "Could you stop with your fucking polaroids for once?" "Nope! Not when it gives me the best picture I've ever taken!", Hange responded confidently, holding up three polaroid pictures, making Eren wonder, how long the kiss had actually lasted and how he didn't notice the very prominent flash and shutter sound, especially since it apparently happened three times. 

When she handed both of them a polaroid once again, he murmured "You know, if you just used your phone, you could print them out as often as you wanted to." "But that would be no fun, Eren! And polaroids have way more charm to them!" She grinned looking at the picture in her hand and showed it to Erwin proudly. "This will get a special place in the album." Levi seemed to have had enough of her antics and dragged Eren, who was currently shoving the photo into his back pocket, to the couch again. Still a bit out of it, he let himself fall onto the couch next to Levi, unsure of what to say or do. This soon solved itself, because Levi was dragged into a conversation by someone Eren hadn't noticed before. 

After some time and two more cups of alcohol, Eren came back to his senses and the first sense he felt was hunger. He had successfully pushed their Oscar worthy performance to the back of his mind by now and was relaxed. Levi and him had exchanged a few comments here and there, but neither of them addressed the incident. The comments were referring to the movie currently playing and how bad Hange's taste in movies apparently was, or something stupid or weird one of the other guests did. Eren had also had another short conversation with Petra, but couldn't really remember what it was about. All that was on his mind at that moment was, that he was hungry. He didn't have the energy to seek out Hange or Erwin and he wasn't brave enough to get something from the kitchen himself. So instead he simply whined "I'm hungry." 

"What do you mean, you're hungry? You ate an entire fucking pizza like two hours ago", Levi stated, to which Eren simply replied "I'm still hungry though." Levi sighed and left Eren alone on the couch. At that point he was ready to accept his fate and stay hungry, because there was no way he would have gotten off that sofa anytime soon. That quickly changed though, when Levi came back, a paper plate with two slices of pizza and handed it to him. Without hesitation he took it and commented "So you can be nice, huh?" "Shut up, or I'm gonna take it back", Levi threatened and Eren didn't want to risk anything. Halfway through the first slice, a thought struck him. "Wait. How am I gonna get home?" 

The amount of people had drastically decreased and his phone showed that it was one in the morning. "I don't know. A taxi maybe?", Levi said, as if it was the most obvious thing ever, which, if Eren was being honest, it was, and added "Why? You want to go home?" "I don't know. I was just asking, I guess." 

He had no idea how long they were going to stay, but he didn't mind spending a bit more time here. Something about the house felt familiar and homely in a strange way. Hange and Erwin came to the living room at one point and sat down on the loveseat. They were partially talking among themselves and partially with Levi and Eren, who wasn't paying as much attention to it as he might should have. 

It didn't surprise him when he started getting tired. He had been awake since seven am after all and the alcohol was only making it worse. Completely forgetting where he was, or who he was with, he started to drift away. His head fell forwards a few times until he eventually let himself fall asleep, by leaning his head against the back of the couch. Just before he was completely drifting away, he felt his head falling to the side and landing on something, which he presumed to be a shoulder. More specifically Levi's shoulder. However, Eren would have been damned if he had actually cared about that in that moment. All he wanted was to sleep, which he finally did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back. Back again. It took an eternity again, but aye. I hope at least one person found the small rick roll I put in this chapter though. Because I'm prouder of it, than I'd like to admit.


	11. Chapter 11

There were a lot of things Eren regretted when he woke up the next day. He first noticed the pounding headache and the slight urge to throw up. While he knew, that it wasn't severe enough to make him actually vomit, he still despised the feeling. So the first thing he regretted, was drinking so much. Next, he remembered his unconscious decision of not going home. Even before he opened his eyes to take in the environment, he already knew that he wasn't in his bed or even his apartment. That was another thing on his list of regrets. It wasn't like he never regretted anything after a night of drinking, but the regrets just kept piling up, so he started to get worried about his sanity. As his memories of the last night kept hitting him, one after the other, he found more and more regrettable things. There were small remarks he had made, which made him want to disappear into the ground and a few even smaller things, he simply wished he hadn't done. The surprising thing was, that the whole situation with the mistletoe wasn't on his list. He didn't really mind it. It was just a part of the act. If they hadn't done that, Hange and Erwin would have been onto them and somehow he was convinced, that a suspicious Hange would be more intuitive than Sherlock Holmes himself. Plus, he noticed that Levi wasn't ugly. He wasn't really sure what to make of this observation, but what he was sure about, was that he would blame that notion entirely on the alcohol. However, what he did regret, and this was by far his biggest regret, was that he did not care about where he fell asleep. To say that the place in which he woke up was more uncomfortable or even just as uncomfortable as waking up on his tiny couch, would have been a lie. Hell, for the first few moments, when he was still half asleep, he would have even considered it comfortable to a certain degree. That was until he eventually gained his senses back and, upon comprehending what was happening, fell to the floor, hitting his head on the coffee table. 

What he saw, left him confused. Confused as to how exactly that had happened. Because he had somehow woken up laying on top of Levi, who managed to look intimidating even while sleeping. He remembered letting his head slip onto his shoulder last night, which was nothing but embarrassing now, but how they had gotten into that position was a mystery to him. If he was being honest, he didn't even want to know the logistics of that. All he wanted in that moment, was to lay in his bed in embarrassment and get rid of his hangover. Why he found that particular situation so much more humiliating than everything else about last night, he had no clue. 

Rubbing his head because of the pain and embarrassment, he sat on the floor and watched as Levi slowly woke up and took in the situation. "At least you didn't vomit all over me", were the first words he said. "Well, good morning to you too. I feel great. Thanks for asking", Eren replied sarcastically. "You weren't the one being used as a fucking imposter mattress." A small part of Eren had been hoping that Levi miraculously wasn't aware of their sleeping arrangement, but he should have known that it was to no avail, so he just mumbled a quiet "Sorry". 

"You two are finally awake, huh?" Hange was suddenly standing behind the couch, grinning as always. "It's past eleven already. You've been occupying the sofa, so we couldn't watch our favorite morning show, because we didn't want to wake you up", Erwin now said. "If you want to complain, talk to Eren. He's the one who fell asleep out of the blue", Levi commented disinterested. "If it caused so much trouble, why did none of you wake me up?", Eren asked exasperated, feeling like he's been put on the spot for something he had very little control over. "Oh, don't worry Eren. The sight of you two was much better anyways!", Hange giggled. 

"Shut up, four eyes", Levi groaned, while he pushed himself off the couch and walking off. Eren, who was still sitting on the floor, finally stood up and plopped down on the spot, where Levi had been sitting just a moment ago. "Hange? Can you drive me home?" "Dear, of course! I'll drive both of you home!" Eren knew that getting a Taxi would have eaten a hole into his wallet, so he was very grateful for that. Not that he wouldn't have tried to pester Levi for the money, had Hange not agreed. 

When Levi returned from his trip to wherever, he stated "You need to clean your fucking bathroom. Someone puked in the shower", and sat down next to Eren. It was then, that he realized, that they were the only two guests left. Everyone else had probably gone home long ago and Eren was ready to go home as well. He was almost about to come up with an excuse, as to why he had to leave, when Hange said "I hate to kick you out like this, but Erwin and I have to prepare the house for when our families come. But no worries! Hange's taxi service is here for you!" 

During the car ride, Eren was mostly concerned with trying not to fall back asleep, while Levi and Hange were talking about something that seemed incredibly mundane to him. He was staring out of the window, when Hange addressed him "Eren? Where should I drop you off?" "Oh, uhm. Just drop me off at the coffee shop. I live nearby." "Perfect!" 

The familiar sight of the coffee shop was a welcome one. While he did feel way more comfortable at that party than last time, it was still a bit suffocating. He wasn't even comfortable calling Levi a friend, so he was surprised that their couple facade hadn't been busted yet. Ready to say goodbye and stop being cautious about his every move, he opened the car door. But he wasn't the only one getting off. It took a lot of control to not seem surprised. Even without their little act, he should have been able to guess that Levi lived nearby, simply by the fact that he came to the coffee shop every evening. There were about as many coffee shops in New York as there was sand in the desert and nothing about it was particularly special, nor did anything taste better than at other shops. Hell, there were a few things in their range of products which Eren would describe as borderline inedible. So the logical explanation was, that Levi lived close by. 

"Well, then bye Hange. And thanks!", Eren said, as he exited the car. "Don't mention it. Hope to see you soon!" Shortly after that, she drove off. "See you on Monday", Levi said and was about to go, but Eren asked, puzzled "What?" It took him a moment to realize what he meant. "Oh. Yeah. Of course. I'll text you the details. 'Til Monday." And with that, they went their separate ways. 

Eren had completely forgotten about the small detail, that Levi was going to accompany him to his parents' place on Christmas eve and he couldn't even pretend to not be nervous because of it. He regretted ever coming up with that idea in the first place, but there was nothing he could have done about it now. 

He didn't even want to concern himself with that at the moment. Never before had he been so relieved to finally unlock the door to his apartment. The first thing on his agenda was to charge his phone. It had died at some point last night and he could only imagine the severity of Mikasa's messages after he wasn't able to respond anymore. When he reached into his pants' pockets, he felt something else, apart from his wallet and phone. Upon further inspection, it turned out to be the Hange's polaroids. He was still too exhausted and hungover to pay much attention to it, so he simply threw them onto his desk with his other stuff. It didn't take long until he fell asleep again, but this time in the comfort of his own bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly tired of myself at this point, because it always takes so long to finish a chapter. But whatever haha


End file.
